nit: 8.2% over 4 years is 1.99% per year (multiplicative, not additive). I think the ultimate problem is that regardless of the system-legible numbers looking

nit: 8.2% over 4 years is 1.99% per year (multiplicative, not additive). I think the ultimate problem is that regardless of the system-legible numbers looking great, it's ultimately just a paperclip optimizer that doesn't reflect people's day to day experiences. There's another article on the front page about "economic termites" and I think that doesn't even capture the full extent of the problem because it's still narrowly focused on prices. Whereas what is happening is that every business with a captive market (which is basically every business these days, after decades of mergers running amok and regulatory capture red tape) is spreadsheet-optimizing into an ever-worse customer experience.